For the manual movement of manipulators such as industrial robots, e.g. within the framework of robot teaching processes, or when modifying software-supported control programs on control units associated with the manipulators, nowadays use is generally made of portable and therefore flexibly usable operating equipment. The latter generally has operating and input elements such as control levers or keys and possibly also indicating or display elements and are connected by means of cables or through wireless communication to a robot control unit.
Such an operating device is required for each control unit, so that generally an individual operating device is used for each manipulator, because each manipulator also has its own control. Alternatively, it is known to provide a common control for several manipulators, when only a common operating device is connected to the control.
In the first mentioned alternative, it has proved disadvantageous when using a cable connection between the operating device and the control unit that due to the large number of operating devices used, there is a crossing and interlacing of cables and consequently it is not readily possible for operating personnel to reliably associate the operating devices and manipulators, particularly if the latter are closely juxtaposed, as is the case in the car industry.
For safety reasons the operating devices for manipulators, such as industrial robots, regularly have a consent or permission switch, which must be depressed in test operation in order to be able to move the particular robot. In applications where several manipulators cooperate with one another, it has proved disadvantageous that then the permission switch must be simultaneously depressed on several operating devices, so that such an operation of cooperating robots is only possible when there are several operators.
The aforementioned disadvantages are avoided in known control systems, where a plurality of robots is connected to a common control. However, then the number of operable robots is limited by the capacities of the individual control units. If the number of manipulators exceeds the number of manipulators connectable to a control, it is no longer possible to move all the manipulators in a coordinated manner, which considerably limits the flexibility of such systems in use.
The problem of the invention is, whilst avoiding the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art, to provide a method and a system for controlling a plurality of manipulators, which permits an operation of a random number of manipulators, said number being independent of the capacities of the individual control units and at the same time a coordinated movement of several manipulators is to be made possible, such as a planned influencing of individual manipulators.